Halliburton backs away from IPO of KBR unit

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Halliburton backs away from IPO of KBR unit

By Matt Daily 2 hours, 2 minutes ago

HOUSTON (Reuters) - Halliburton Co. (NYSE:HAL - news) on Friday backed away from a planned initial public offering of its KBR unit, with Chief Executive Officer Dave Lesar citing weak market conditions and saying KBR could be split off without an IPO.

Lesar also referred to problems surrounding a KBR gas-to-liquids project in Nigeria that resulted in a $148 million charge in the second quarter as the main reasons for backing off the previously announced IPO of its engineering and construction arm.

"Although we continue to see an IPO as attractive, we do not want to delay the ultimate timing of the separation of KBR," Lesar told a conference call.

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Halliburton, the world's second-largest oilfield services company, expects to have the KBR split-off done within the next six to nine months, and has asked for a ruling from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service on the tax-free status of spinning it off to shareholders.

Halliburton had filed for an IPO for KBR, the Pentagon's largest private contractor in Iraq, and expected to raise $550 million by listing 20 percent of the company.

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